‘Music Now’. Mafra hosts concerts and conferences at the end of the month

The inaugural session on May 29 will feature European Commissioner for Culture Glenn Micallef, MEP Laurence Farreng from the European Parliament’s Culture Committee, MEP Hélder Sousa Silva from Mafra, Europa Nostra Secretary-General Sneska Qvaedlig Mihailovic, CEM founder and president Jorge Chaminé, and Mafra Mayor Hugo Luís.

The program includes the presentation of the CEM City Alliance in Portugal, based in Mafra, a reading of the “Appeal of Mafra”—a declaration for Europe’s cultural future—and activities spread across the National Palace of Mafra, the Marquis Palace, the Francisco Alves Gato House of Music, and the Beatriz Costa Auditorium in Mafra.

The three-day conference aims to “place music at the heart of Europe for unity and peace, at a time when this is more necessary than ever,” as stated by the organizers in a press release.

The event is viewed as “a space for the creation and affirmation of a Europe that needs music to understand itself and transform in times of change” and aspires to be “a profound political and cultural impetus that recognizes music as a common heritage, a civilizing force, and a universal language of meeting and future.”

The first day begins with a creative workshop on the project “Passarola—music variations on the past and the future,” continues with the presentation of the “Via Scarlatti” project on music and innovation in Southern Europe, based on the work of Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti, a court musician for King John V, and concludes with a concert by pianists Shani Diluka, Isabel Dobarro, and Pedro Emanuel Pereira.

The following day features an evening concert by the Divino Sospiro period orchestra, again referencing Domenico Scarlatti, under the direction of Massimo Mazzeo, with pianist Shani Diluka and Iranian musician Shadi Fathi participating.

The event concludes with the screening of the documentary “Une Saga Culturelle” by Nadège de Peganow, exploring the rise of European cultural consciousness in the 19th century through the visionary figures of composer and singer Pauline Viardot, historian and playwright Louis Viardot, and Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, author of “Fathers and Sons.”

The final day also hosts a meeting of the Network of European Musicians’ Houses and Museums, promoting dialogue between memory and creation.

The Mafra 2025 Days are organized by CEM, with branches in Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, and Austria, in partnership with the Municipality of Mafra, Europa Nostra, the European Heritage Hub, the Terra Foundation, the Divino Sospiro association, and the National Center for Culture.

Since last year, the Portuguese branch of CEM has been headquartered in Mafra due to the town’s historical ties to music, dating back to the construction of the National Palace of Mafra. This connection is further reinforced by the planned installation of the National Museum of Music, as well as the presence of the New University of Lisbon’s Music Sciences division and the National Sound Archive.

CEM is established as a space for research and innovation through music and is already developing three programs: Via Scarlatti, Music and Oceans, and Music and Ecology.

As part of the Via Scarlatti program, the first research and cultural creation project is named “Passarola,” after the flying machine attributed to Bartolomeu de Gusmão during the reign of King John V, which José Saramago evokes in “Baltasar and Blimunda.” The project connects to the 18th-century Portuguese context in which the book’s protagonists, Baltazar and Blimunda, move, directly referencing the ‘builder’ of the Palace of Mafra.

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